FAQ

We ship out orders as quickly as we can, but typically items are shipped within 2-5 business days (sometimes the same day!) It all depends on our current order load and if the item is ready to ship or needs to be made. Once shipped, it depends on the method of shipping chosen. First class in usually 3-5 business days and Priority mail is 1-3 business days. Every jewelry item comes packaged in a jewelry box ready to gift! Need a note? Let us know in the note to seller and we will include a hand-written note (from you!!) at no extra charge. Did your order qualify for free shipping? Awesome! Please note, all free shipping promotions ship out via First Class mail regardless of what shipping method is chosen. If you need Priority Mail, or your order to be expedited, please get in touch with us or choose the shipping method you need and do not apply the promotion. Thank you.

International customers are responsible for all duties and taxes as we have no way to collect/remit them for you--sorry in advance!

Sales and codes are not combinable unless stated. Thank you for your understanding.

Returns: If your order does not meet your expectations you may return for a full refund within 2 weeks of receipt. Items returned after two weeks of receipt will receive store credit only. Unfortunately, all custom jewelry is final sale. Please email us at hello@greytheorymill.com with your Order Number and names of items you wish to return. Items must be returned unworn, in original packaging or they will not be eligible for a full refund. You will be refunded in full to your original form of payment once we have received the return shipment less the cost of your our original shipping charges.

Repairs: We stand behind our jewelry and offer repairs on any Grey Theory Mill product purchased through us or any of our stockists. Any manufacturing flaw: broken clasp, chain, wire wrapping, jump ring, etc is fixed on us. You are responsible for shipping the item to us and we will cover return shipping. Something else happen? Email us! Let's work it out. Repairs must be approved by Grey Theory Mill before being shipped. Please email us with the following information: item description, photo of damaged jewelry, repair needed, and best return shipping address. Repairs are typically completed and shipped out within 5 business days of receipt of the item.

Jewelry designs that are no longer in stock or discontinued will not be eligible for a repair.

We highly recommend that you remove jewelry before bathing, swimming, soaking, and vigorous exercise. Keeping it away from perfume, lotions, sunscreen, & other chemicals is a great idea too!

Our jewelry is not being made by a factory with machines, each one is hand assembled by myself--Jonnie--or my right hand gal, Monica :) If you forget a couple times to take off your jewelry before a shower, it won't disintegrate, it'll just begin to oxidize the brass quicker. In the case of our earrings, over time the water temperature could compromise the integrity of the bond between earring post and earring piece, and that's never good. Keep those bonds strong!

We love brass and use it almost exclusively! We like it dark, we like it shiny. We also like how easy it shines up with a jeweler's cloth like this one or a bit a lemon juice! Every jewelry purchase through our shop (that is not an antiqued brass style) will receive a sample size polish cloth. On our IG stories, we have a maintenance video too!!

Our shopify is set up to send out all correspondence automatically upon order confirmation & once your order ships. We've only noticed problems with gmail accounts. Gmail is SO good at filtering potential spam, that sometimes our shopify automation is flagged as such. Give your promotions tab OR spam folder a quick look and see if our emails have been going there. Regardless, sorry about that and we hope you LOOOOOOVE your new jewelry :O)

Grey Theory Mill earrings are made with 100% Surgical Grade A Titanium earring posts/hooks. Titanium is one of the only truest hypoallergenic metals as it contains NO traces of nickel (the most common sensitive skin allergy). Grey Theory Mill earrings provide comfortable all day wear with no itch!

We almost exclusively use brass for our designs, but prioritize hypoallergenic over matching metals. The pierced hole is the most sensitive to metal so we only use titanium posts/hooks. Since this component of the design is obscured while wearing (or almost in the hooks case) we feel it does not distract from the overall design and instead adds a high quality + safe to wear metal for everyone.

I can’t distinctly recall how Grey Theory came to me. I know that I finally got myself set on some sort of name with the word “grey” in it. Grey is a very significant word and thing to me. Growing up, I was surrounded by a lot of black and white thinking. Things, issues, and choices that person X or group Y wanted me to choose between. One was right and the other wrong. This sort of thinking (if you can call it that) has always made me very, very uncomfortable. I could never really commit to a side…I could never be that true black or that true white. I may have looked it, a deep-dark grey, but a lot went into why I was such a dark shade of grey…I thought through every layer, every shade, and could understand why I thought about X, Y, or Z the way I did. Grey became even more significant to me a couple years ago when I went to visit my aunt and uncle in Michigan. It was towards the end of my stay when we got into a philosophical conversation about religion, labels, and thinking. The quote I took from that discussion was, “when people label things, they stop thinking, or at least I do”. My eyes got big…this is that state of grey!! The state of comfortable uncertainty!! My whole being resonated with that non-labeling statement, that state of grey put into words…to label something is to stop learning, to stop asking, to stop truly understanding. Grey is the place where thinking happens…where you work out all the kinks, unwanted curves, and fill in the gaps………or at least, this is my theory…my grey, grey theory.

Jonnie officially ventured into the handmade biz world in 2010 under a very whimsical, seriously made-up business name that no one could pronounce, but rebranded to Grey Theory Mill in 2012 ^_^

I try to be transparent and honest in all that I do. Pricing my work has always been an area of struggle for me...however, selling through brick-and-mortar shops has helped me greatly in this area. Every year I learn more and more about what it takes to be in business. There are so many hidden costs (etsy, shopify, paypal, quickbooks, employees, packaging, website domains, apps, square--they all take their cut) and I never know when one of my material suppliers will raise their prices. All that being said, it is always my goal to keep every piece of jewelry affordable and under forty dollars.

I don’t think I set out to start a business, I just think my subconscious knew all along I still wanted to major in art (I freaked out when I was about to transfer to an art program with the thought, “I can’t major in art!! What will I do when I graduate?!”) so I tethered myself to the idea of having an art store. I loved the handmade movement and even more so the idea of being able to create practical art and wares for others (my favorite kind of art). It has evolved many times since its initial creation and I am here for it <3

I think the more appropriate question is, where don’t you get inspiration for your work? With that being said, I think I have inspiration ADHD. I am inspired by so many facets of living that it’d be hard for me to say just one. I wish I could just say “nature” and be done with it, but I think for me, human culture is my biggest muse. I love science, I love words, I LOVE books--especially reading them, I love learning, I love dynamics of relationships, I love watching, I love dreaming (and have been given a few ideas in my dreams!) I always keep a notebook on me because I never know when inspiration will hit.

Well, I don’t believe that Grey Theory Mill is 100% unique. I am unique as a person, we all are, but as far as art goes, I am a huge proponent that there is nothing new under the sun. One of my most favorite art professors once said that she sees art as a river. You add to the river and take from the river, but it is still a variation of said river water...maybe some rocks..maybe some sand, you get the idea. With that being said, I think I come up with some pretty clever, unique-ish items, and try to steer clear of the items that are densely saturated in my field.

YES, but to an extent. We do not melt metal and we do not necessarily venture out too far from our current line. Anything stamped is 100% customizable and necklaces can be made shorter/longer per request. More questions? Drop us a line at hello@greytheorymill.com

Currently, Grey Theory Mill is based out of sunny San Diego, California!